Dan Haren had health issues in his final year with the Los Angeles Angels. / Kelvin Kuo, USA TODAY Sports

by Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY Sports

by Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Nationals' rotation has a great deal of clarity going forward: Four young cornerstones in Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann and Ross Detwiler.

And the fifth spot seems destined to be a revolving door of veterans signed to short-term, big-money deals.

Tuesday, Dan Haren became that veteran.

Sliding nimbly into the vacancy created by Edwin Jackson's departure, Haren has agreed to a one-year, $13 million deal with the Nationals, according to Fox Sports.

Haren's deal seems to signal that the Nationals will not enter the Zack Greinke sweepstakes in earnest. They nearly traded for him two years ago and were dark horses in the Greinke hunt this year, though the Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers remain heavy favorites.

Haren's contract, meanwhile, is a good one for player and team. The Nationals' young pitching ranks have been thinned thanks to trades that netted them Gonzalez and center fielder Denard Span. Haren buys them a year of a relatively dependable veteran, albeit one beset by health woes.

As for Haren, he'll come out ahead of where he would have been had the Angels picked up his 2013 club option, which was valued at $15.5 million. Instead, they paid him a $3.5 million buyout. Combined with his reported salary with the Nationals, Haren will net $16.5 million.

Beset by a back injury, Haren was limited to 30 starts and a career-low 176 innings last year, during which he went 12-13 with a 4.33 ERA. That broke a string of seven consecutive seasons in which he pitched at least 216 innings. There also were concerns this winter that Haren's back problems were related to an issue with his hip.